There are many products used in construction and industry that require external support for their proper installation and operation. Some examples are elongated cylindrical forms including electrical conduits and cables, data cables, water pipes, drain pipes, natural gas pipes, compressed air lines, refrigeration lines, vacuum lines, fuel lines, hydraulic tubes and hoses, and tubes and hoses used to feed chemicals. They often require periodic support along their length. Other products are small modular items like relays, switches, and sensors that need to be mounted or secured in place.
Some of these items can sometimes be supported by installing them underground, or otherwise imbedding them in a supporting matrix, such as concrete. Sometimes they can be strapped, or otherwise affixed directly to an existing structure or surface. Many times, however, there is no practical route, or means whereby the item can be attached directly to an existing structure. In such cases, an intermediary device is required to connect an existing structure to the item requiring support. Such an intermediary device is called a support bracket. A support bracket is attached to an existing structure, normally using existing fastening devices, such as nails, screws, bolts and nuts, rivets, and the like. The item to be supported is attached to the bracket. In some cases, the attachment may be accomplished by a mutually compatible design of a particular bracket for a particular product, so that the item to be supported somehow snaps, or otherwise locks into place. In more general applications, items to be supported are attached to a bracket utilizing a wide variety of existing fastening devices, including straps, clamps, screws, bolts and nuts, rivets, and the like.
Support brackets already exist in an almost endless variety of forms, but they are generally prefabricated and designed for use with a single product, or a very limited range of products. My invention is intended to be as adaptable as possible, for use in the maximum possible number of applications. My invention provides its user with the ability to quickly and accurately fabricate support brackets, and/or straps, for an almost limitless number of applications. The exact shape and size of the support brackets, and/or straps, required for a job can be determined on-site. They can be designed, fabricated, and installed on-site. All this is easily accomplished by any worker of ordinary skill, using ordinary hand tools. No special tools, electrical power, or batteries required.
Each day, workers in different trades face the same problem. How to support, or secure in place, something that cannot conveniently be directly attached to an existing structure. For conduits, pipes, tubing, and the like, attachment devices already exist such as straps, clamps, and vertical hangers. These devices are normally trade specific, and intended only for specific trade sizes. Vertical hangers can sometimes provide a simple, direct route, but their use requires a suitable overhead structure. Often, there is no such structure, and even if there is, this method can be costly, difficult, and time consuming. Straps generally require that the item to be supported be routed into physical contact with an existing structure. Clamps generally require that the item to be supported either be routed into physical contact with an existing structure, or brought within a very close, specified distance. Straps and clamps both provide points of support for items such as conduits and pipes, but they also require that the conduit or pipe be routed either along an existing surface, or from one existing structure to another. Even minor deviations from a straight line in the positioning of these points of support may require that the conduit or pipe be bent, or assembled using angled fittings. This requires more time, more expertise, and more material.
My invention allows items like conduits or pipes to be routed in straighter, more direct lines because, within a certain range, deviations in their distance from nearby existing structures can be compensated for by the variation allowed by the custom, on-site, hand fabrication of support brackets made of my invention. The exact range of variation for a bracket fabricated from my invention would be determined by several factors, including the size and weight of the item to be supported, and which embodiment of the invention is utilized. Various embodiments of the invention will be discussed in greater detail in following sections of this application. Items such as conduits or pipes can be attached to brackets thus fabricated, using either conventional straps, or straps fabricated from other sections of strip. In either case, the straps are normally attached to the bracket by using existing forms of fastening devices, such as screws, bolts and nuts, rivets, and the like.
When determining how to support an item such as a conduit or pipe, workers can approach the problem in one of two ways. One, they can introduce bends, and/or angled fittings into the piping system, so as to route the conduit or pipe along a series of points of attachment to existing structures, this being done solely for the purpose of support, requiring more time, expertise, and material. Or two, they can improvise supporting structures from scratch, in an effort to keep the conduit or pipe as straight as possible. Both approaches are time consuming, labor intensive, and require a high level of skill on the part of the person who does the work. Moreover, every time such a problem arises it is a new problem, and must be solved from scratch. My invention conceives of support brackets and straps in an entirely new way. Instead of having to improvise supporting structures from scratch, my invention provides its user with a means of easily, quickly, and accurately designing, fabricating, and installing adaptable support brackets, and straps, on-site, for a wide variety of applications, in multiple trades, and fields of endeavor. All this being done using only this invention, simple hand tools, and widely available existing fastening devices including nails, screws, bolts and nuts, and rivets.